Ancient, ANCIENT Computer

[bicostp]

I found an ancient laptop (ca. 1988) in my closet the other week, and I've got it loaded with games and programs from around that time. It's a Zenith SupersPORT.

Just for laughs, here's the specs:
# 80C88 processor (8MHz)
# 640Kb RAM
# Electroluminescent Backlit 10.5" CGA LCD Display
# One serial port, one parallel port, external floppy disk interface
# Model 20.ZP-184-20..3.5" 720Kb Floppy Disk Drive, 20Mb Hard Disk

Productivity Software:

#DOS 3.3r (From Home of the Underdogs)
#QBASIC 3.0 (BASIC system)
#PEDIT (text editor)
#SLED (text editor)
#LXPIC (Displays BMP JPEG PCX and GIF graphics)
#MIDIPLAY (plays MID files over the PC speaker, but won't run on 8088)
# FIGlet
#VisiCalc (Think Excel 1.0)

Games:
#Dangerous Dave (Platformer)
#AlleyCat (Platformer)
#PCMAN (Pac Man clone)
#Bouncing Babies (Clone of the old "Fire" Game & Watch)
#BurgerTime (Official Mattel release)
#Tetris (Duh)
#10'th Frame Bowling (Bowling sim)
#Othello (Reversi)
#Digger (Clone of the old coin-op I think)
#The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Old Infocom text adventure, the bestone in my opinion)
#PCPOOL (Pool simulator)
#Solitaire (not much fun without a mouse)
#4x4 Off Road (racing game)
#PONG (again, Duh.)
#The Microsoft decathalon (Not the old "Spankathon" Activision Decathalon.)
#Eliza (Early AI attempt)
#Jungle Hunt
#Paratrooper
#Sopwith and Sopwith 2
#Dig Dug (gotta have Dig Dug)
#Alf
#Jr. Pac Man (The official Namco release)
#Pinball Construction Set
#Donkey Kong
#Wheel Of Fortune
#The $100,000 Pyramid
#The Price is Right
#Pit Stop 2 (Simultaneous, 2-player, rear-view racing on an 8088! )

All that and 11MB of free space!

Here's some guy's pictures of his SupersPORT:
<img src="http://terminus.tzo.com/zds/graphics/sideshot2.jpg" width=400 title="Side View" >

<img src="http://terminus.tzo.com/zds/graphics/ports.jpg" title="Rear ports" >

It has no internal battery or SoundBlaster card or anything! There is a port where the modem card went, but it is long gone. I'm thinking of adding a headphone port, a volume control, and a toggle switch to the old modem cover so I can mute the PC speaker easily, or adjust the volume, or something. It should be simple, because there's only 2 wires going to and from the speaker.

I also found a box of 13-year-old Maxell 720k floppies, all of which still work like new!

Any comments and/or questions and/or recommended programs (preferably with a download link. )

[HotDog-Cart]

i have an older computer made in 1980, its mouse is a lil ball, it has win 3.0 and dos

how can i find out the specs on this old beast?

and mine only has 4 games like: Ski , Solitaire,Tic Tac Toe, and some more games that are corrupted

[Sparkfist]

I'd say go to old-computers.com

The oldest computer we have in our house is an Osborne Executive. Here's a page with the specs.

P.S. HotDog I dont think a computer made in 1980 can run windows 3.0. Most computers up to the mid '80 (I believe it started '84) did the IBM standard happen and more standard OSs began to show up (like UNIX).

[HotDog-Cart]

wow mines old (Ca. 1980)

how can i get stuff from old computers?? i cant use floppy's becuase the computer im on (my brand new laptop) doesnt have a floppy disc drive, although my old 1980 latop stop does.

and how can i find my 1980 comp's specs? is there a DOS Command?

[bicostp]

You have to have a computer with Wiindows 2000 or older, and a 3.25" floppy drive (or Mac OS 8, or 7.6.1 or older with PC Exchange installed.)

Windows XP won't format 720k floppies.

You need to buy an external floppy drive for your computer. And if the old computer uses 5.5" 360k floppies, yor best bet ould be to get an external 3.25" floppy drive for it. If you can't find one, you need to get some 5.5" floppies and a computer that can read both formats. (I'm fortunate enough to live near a small computer shop who will give me free parts like 10 gig HDs and let me copy files from 5.5" to 3.25" floppies with an old junker computer.

[HotDog-Cart]

well the old 1980 Laptop takes the Same Floppy Discs as like a win 2k takes (IT DOESNT TAKE THE OLD BIG ONES....:p)

and how can i find the specs? is there some kind DOS(Disk Operating System) Command?

[Sparkfist]

Dont know about 5.25" floppy drives but I know they have 3.5" USB ones. If you really want one macofalltrades.com has one, and as its USB it will work with Windows or *NIX flavors.

If anyone can find a 5.25" drive that can be connected to a modern computer I would really like to know about it, you you own one I will buy it.

[gamer2]

finally a computer that is not better than mine

[jtaylor0913]

rotf that is old and i mean OLD

[HotDog-Cart]

mines the oldest here 1980 YAY

[bioniclebert]

Ive got a lot of like 15 old computer games. Some of em are small floppies, and some are the big thin black ones.

Theyre in very good condition, most have all papers for them. I only got to test 1 of the games and It worked. So I am prolly going to sell them. If your ancient computer can play the games like willy beamish, space quest 1, jones in the fast lane, kings quest 1, 2, 3, etc. then tell me if you want em.

That is old!

[HotDog-Cart]

Yea, my old Computer can play those, my old comp has VGA and EGA B&W Screen

toobad i cant buy online...grrr i'd buy those in a second i need more games on it

[Reaperman@home]

Yea, my old Computer can play those, my old comp has VGA and EGA B&W Screen

how does your computer have vga or ega if it's from 1980? even cga wasn't introduced until 1981

[HotDog-Cart]

dunno it says its VGA/EGA and it says 1980 soo....maybe it a area 52 computer :O.. :p 52 phh

[bicostp]

BULLexcrement.

cga came out in 1981, VGA wasn't around until 1989 at the earliest.

3.25" floppy drives were not common with PCs in 1980. Hell, the PC platform didn't come around until the IBM 8088 in the early 80's.

Your computer probably has the model number 1980.